Friday, July 31, 2009

..................August Already????

I can't believe that tomorrow is August. School will be starting soon and I simply do not know where the summer went. I guess it is better than having life drag on slowly, but this is getting ridiculous. It really hasn't felt much like summer either. Our weather has remained quite cool with foggy mornings. Our normal heat shows up in September and October so it may still come. I read about so many having extreme heat or rain and cool weather situations. Who knows what is happening, but it certainly doesn't feel like glo*bal warming here.

We enjoyed a delightful visit while my cousin and his family were here. Their children had so much fun with our grandchildren and, once again, we had the use of the pool next door. It is such a delightful way to spend the day and the children positively love it. We get to "babysit" the pool again next week too. Yeah! It's a tough job, but someone HAS to do it.

Iowa guests.

The one big disappointment was that the sewer line backed up while they were here. With house guests it is always an inconvenience, to say the least. The plumber snaked it and things appeared fine. The following day, after company had left, I started the gazillion loads of laundry. After three loads I walked through the entry and the wood floors were under water. Apparently, the water from the washer came back up through the guest bath and flooded the place. Needless to say, the wood floors are badly damaged and will need to get attention.

The real issue of the backup could not be assessed until Tuesday when our regular septic guy could come out. With camera and mirrors, he discovered that we have a "tweaked" pipe heading from the house. It will need to be replaced which cannot be done until the beginning of next week. I just love "camping out" in my own home. He powered washed out the pipe and it is now okay for liquid only so at least I have running water. Ahhhh....the simple joys in life.

On Monday we had the "thrill" of babysitting our son's lab. Look at this peaceful, happy dog. Is this the perfect picture or what??? Grandpa's found slipper and a good nap......

What you don't get a picture of is what this dog did when we slipped out of the house for an hour on Monday evening. The dog turned into the "beast" and took the bedding off every bed, removed all the pillows on the sofas, walked on top of the dining table, scratched up the front door and chewed the wooden blinds off two of the windows. Don't ask me why as she has been to our house a million times and has stayed with us before. My thoughts immediately turned to the possibility of perhaps the mountain lion had returned. I really needed a little more chaos and cleanup in my house. Fortunately, her family returned early from camping due to an encounter with bears eating all of their food.

Our wild animal stories continue. Tuesday morning I let our other dog out. She was enjoying a nice nap in the sun on the door mat when out of nowhere a large coyote came right up to the door. I was sitting right there and leaped from my chair. I opened the door and let the dog inside. ( I should say she "flew" inside.) This thing was not at all intimidated by me and stood there staring at me. I finally decided to grab the camera. What else would a blogger do? When I came back to the door it had walked away. I pursued it until it finally jumped the fence. The poor dog was just shaking like crazy. We have only just this week managed to get her to walk out onto the grass to do her "duty" from the mountain lion attack.

I'm not sure you can spot the coyote, but it is right behind the volleyball pole.

There was also a large article on the front page of the paper this a.m. about the repeated mountain lion attacks. Thankfully, folks will FINALLY be advised of what is going on around here. We have lived here for twenty years and have never experienced such behaviors. I am thinking it may be due to the lack of rains for the past few years.

So........if you can't clean due to limited use of water, what does one do????? Sew....of course. I have been playing around a bit with the machine embroidery. One of the granddaughters, Ms. H, had her ninth birthday this week and loves her horse. I added a pillow case to her package and she loved it.

Ms. H and Ms. M in the arena with Gracie and Rudy.

I also did a really cute embroidery on a little romper that I made. On my next one I will merge the name a little lower because this one is too close to the cute embroidery design. These are little bug bottles where vinyl is used to make it appear like a jar. Very cute designs.

Any of you sewers out there need to check out Tonya'sblog. She is doing a Q-U-I-L-T Bingo game and it sounds like fun. You play for fat quarters. There is still time to sign up.

The garden is doing great and we have been enjoying everything there is to do with tomatoes - salsa, herbed tomatoes, gazpacho, sliced, BLTs, etc., etc., etc. I love this time of the year for the fresh produce.

I am hoping that we have had enough excitement around here to last for some time. Another normal week would be most welcome. Pipes will get fixed, repair projects will get done and life will resume to the everyday "stuff" that I love. Meanwhile I will continue to rejoice in the fact that my mother continues to do well, the children and grandchildren are doing great and we remain healthy. How much better does it get? Life is good.

15 comments:

Good grief! What a week! We had a big lab just like that....he chewed every door facing, our deck and even unraveled about a foot wide piece of our carpet! But they're such great dogs that you can't help but love them! Just between the sewer and the wild animals, I'd have been batty! :)

Oh my goodness, I'll bet you woke up each morning wondering what could go wrong that day. Is a tweaked pipe plugged, bent, collapsed or what? And then the water damaged floor and dog damaged door and blinds. Wow. I imagine everyone in your neighborhood is even more concerned about that mountain lion.

I like your attitude...mom and the kids are all well and the garden produce is looking delicious.Hang in there!

Where to start with this comment!?? I've just caught up with your last several posts, and oh, what a time you've had! I'm sorry to hear your mom went through such a difficult time, but glad to know she's rallying. What a wonderful, strong lady she is! I'm sure you're made of the same 'stuff' :)I'm so very sad to hear of the loss of your beloved dog. How horrible! And how very frightening to have such a vicious beast wandering your neighborhood. I'd be so afraid for children in the area. I hope and pray that it's caught and removed very soon. As for the 'guest' dog's puzzling antics...how frustrating! I'll bet either the coyote or the mountain lion showed up in your absence. Very puzzling indeed and more than a little scary.We've had several wildlife adventures ourselves this summer..but that's another story (and this is supposed to be just a comment!)We've had much the same weather as you, and the same thoughts about global warming (a 'myth' in my humble opinion) have crossed my mind. On the other hand, in the heat and drought of Texas, it's probably easy for them to believe.Your vacations and family get togethers sound like wonderful fun, and your beautiful family photos are so heartwarming.I'm glad you're managing to enjoy a little sewing in between the busyiness of life, and fitting in some canning too. Yes, it does come at the wrong time :) Those fruits are so delicious though and yes, much appreciated, so the time spent is well worth it. I'd love to have my own apricots and peaches!The little overalls are adorable! You do such a beautiful job.I do hope August is more peaceful for you, and more normal as far as weather goes..for both of us!Enjoy!

Those wild animals are just coming by to tell you that you are in their territory..what do you think? smile!! I would be scared if I were your dog too. You baby sitting dog sounds like Marley..Did you see the movie,"Marley and Me"? It is great. You would love it.Thanks for stopping by.Sandy

Ah but when life returns to normal and all is quiet, then we get bored! lol My goodness, you sure did have quite the week that week!! Between the sewers backing up, the dog making a mess, wild animals on the loose and company...well now I can understand why you just want to resume a nice quiet life! hehe

Our problem here with wild animals are the black bears. They tend to get very bold and come right up to the houses to try to get to the bird seeds and cat/dog food if any is left out. It's quite a shock to look out my back window and see a black bear licking my patio table! lol That was the time we had corn on the cob out there and I guess some butter residue had stayed on the table because I hadn't had a chance to wash it off yet.

Hopefully this past week has been quite a bit more uneventful:-) Love the sewing projects you did, that pillow case and little romper are adorable!! xoxo

Thanks for stopping by again and wishing my dad a wonderful birthday. I never thought I would have my parents this long but God has been good.You are behind on blogging too...I think several of us are..Life just gets in the way.Sandy

My goodness...what a week! So sorry about you pipes and your dog mishaps.I would have liked to see your son's face when he found out about the "doggy damage".Thanks for always stoppin' by and the comments!

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About Me

I go by many titles - daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother and friend. My husband and I have been married for 47 years and have five children. Our four sons and one daughter are all married and have blessed us with 29 grandchildren. It's a wonderful life!
For 30 years I worked as a R.N. in obstetrics which included labor and delivery, nursery and NICU.